The invention relates to a method for coating data storage media with a coating medium that is applied by at least one coating nozzle in the inner area of the storage medium and is distributed thereon by rotation of the storage medium due to the resulting centrifugal force. The invention relates furthermore to a device for performing the aforementioned method.
Disc-shaped data storage media are, for example, compact discs (CDs), mini discs, magneto-optical discs, CD-ROMs, CD-Rs, photo and/or video discs. In the following, such discs are referred to as disc-shaped data storage media or, for short, storage media.
Devices of the aforementioned kind are produced and distributed by the assignee of this patent. FIG. 5 shows a schematic representation of the device, respectively, of the sequence of the coating and drying process at the respective stations of this device.
At a supply station 1 the disc-shaped data storage media 2 are received by a manipulation device 3, in the shown case a so-called process cup gripper, comprising gripper arms 4,5 facing the supply station 1 which grip the storage media 2 supplied by the supply station 1 and transport them to the coating stations 6,7 of a processing unit 8. After coating of the storage media 2 with a coating medium, for example, a coating lacquer, the storage media 2 are transported by the gripper arms 10,11 facing the drying station 9 to a receiving position 12 from where they are transported into a drying chamber 13. After the drying process, the storage medium 2 is transported from the drying chamber 13 into a position 14 within the drying station in which a further gripper 15 grips it and transports it into the receiving station 16.
The afore disclosed coating devices for disc-shaped data storage media have been used successfully in the production of such storage media.
It is an object of the invention to improve coating processes and devices for disc-shaped information storage media and to provide devices which, per time unit, allow more coating steps, which are more reliable and need less downtime, and which provide for a reduced manufacturing and service expenditure, especially for the coating stations.